Tony Stark (Earth-11584)
History "At the end of the day, whether it's because of a guilty conscience or a streak of sadomasochism or just the plain thrill of it all, you will never change the fact that I am Iron Man." Anthony Edward Stark was born in 1973 to wealthy parents Howard and Maria Stark. It was clear from an early age that Tony was a prodigal child, building his first circuit board by the age of 8 and completely reconstructing the engine to a 1952 Vincent Black Lightning by age 13. Tony's early life was spent mostly in boarding schools, and as a result of his father's age, business obssessions, and general personality, Tony's relationship with Howard was strained for the most part. He was much closer with his mother, Maria. After graduating Magna Cum Laude from MIT at the age of 17, Tony seemed poised for greatness. Yet he allowed his desire for partying get the better of his potential, much to the chagrin of his father. This somewhat changed when Tony turned 18, with the sudden death of both of his parents in a car accident in December of 1991. His father's company, Stark Industries, was placed in a trust handled by company COO Obadiah Stane, until three years later when Tony turned 21 and took the reigns himself. Tony's genius quickly transferred to the boardroom, as he survived an attempt by the Board to oust his majority shareholdings (an attempt that was, at the time, unknowingly to Tony spearheaded by Stane himself) and Stark began repositioning the company as the leading weapons manufacturer in the Cold War world. His connections with Air Force Col James Rhodes, a longtime friend of his, helped in this endeavor. By the time the War on Terror was in full swing, Tony was easily one of the richest industrialists in America. It was around this time he first invented JARVIS, a rudimentary AI that would go on to serve as his primary operating system for all of Stark Industries, as well as meeting Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan and hiring them into the company. Everything changed in 2006, however, when Tony was demonstrating the Jericho Missile System for US military brass. Returning from the successful demonstration, Tony's convoy was ambushed by members of a terrorist group called the Ten Rings outside of Gulmira in Afghanistan. There, Tony received a blast of shrapnel from one of his own mortar shells, which would have killed him had it not been for the quick thinking of a Doctor by the name of Yinsen. Tony was saved by attaching an electromagnet in his chest to a car battery. He was told by his captors to build a Jericho Missile System for them in exchange for his life, but instead Tony decided to build a miniaturized ARC reactor, based on a design developed by his father and Soviet scientist Anton Vanko in the sixties. In addition, Stark and Yinsen constructed a suit of armor to facilitate their escape. However, Yinsen died before they could escape together, telling Tony not to waste the gift of life he had been given. After escaping and returning to the states, Tony immediately suspended production of weapons systems at Stark Industries, causing his stock price to plummet and layoffs to begin almost immediately. After urging calm from Stane and his friends, Tony began experimenting with improving both the ARC reactor in his chest and on replicating the armored suit that had facilitated his suit. Tony's Mark II suit would prove to be a rousing success, and eventually he used said suit to venture back to Gulmira and deal a crippling blow to the remaining members of the Ten Rings (unknowingly drawing the interest of their leader, the Mandarin, in the process.) Tony returned to America, only to find himself facing a potential lockout from his company by Stane. Obadiah eventually managed to reverse engineer a suit of his own, and stole the new and improved ARC reactor from Stark, leaving him to die. Timely intervention from James Rhodes kept Tony alive, and he used his old chestpiece and his newer armor to fight Stane's Iron Monger. After a large scale skirmish at the Stark Industries facility in Los Angeles, Tony defeated the Iron Monger and killed Stane in the process. In the followup, Tony was given an alibi by Agent Phil Coulson of the Strategic Homeland Intelligence, Enforcement and Logistics Division, also known as SHIELD. However, at a public press conference, Tony declared to the world that he was, in fact, Iron Man, much to the chagrin of Rhodes and Pepper Potts, the latter of whom he entered into a relationship with that very same day. That night, Stark was approached by Nick Fury, the director of SHIELD, who proceeded to inform him of something called the Avengers Initiative. In the months that followed, Tony used his armor to act as a sort of nuclear deterrent, coordinating his missions with the United States military via Col. Rhodes. Tony also reinstates the Stark Expo, as a tribute to his father. However, Senator Phillip Stern was seeking to seize the Iron Man suit for America's own use. At a hearing on Capitol Hill, Tony makes a fool of his leading rival Justin Hammer, proudly declaring that no one was even close to duplicating his technology. Also at this time, Tony realized that overuse of the suit was causing the palladium cores of his ARC reactor chestplate to overheat and burn out, leading to palladium poisoning in his bloodstream. Seeing no way of abating his symptoms without compromising his technology, Tony continued on as if nothing was wrong, but also made Potts the new CEO of Stark Industries, so he could focus full time on being Iron Man. He hired a new personal assisstant, Natalie Rushman, who unknown to him was actually a deep cover SHIELD agent assigned to him. On a whim, Tony decided to take Pepper to Monte Carlo, and then entered the Grand Prix there just for thrills. However, at this event he was publicly attacked by three individuals calling themselves the Wrecking Crew: ex-employees of Stark Industries that were laid off when the company had ceased weapons production. Each used technology that had been obtained illegally by a fourth member, Leila Davis, and showed that Iron Man was not entirely invincible. Despite capturing the three, this incident increased calls for Tony to turn over the suit to the military, and Tony reluctantly agreed to build a new suit for use by Col. Rhodes alone. However, at his birthday party, Tony got drunk and insulted both Pepper and Rhodes, leading to the Col fighting Tony and stealing the original mockup of the Mark II so that the Army could utilize it. The following morning, Tony is confronted both by SHIELD director Nick Fury and by his "assistant" Natalie Rushman, who is revealed to be Natalya Romanof, aka the Black Widow. Fury has Romanoff give Stark lithium dioxide to abate the symptoms of his palladium poisoning, and then tells Tony a bit about his father, explaining that Howard was a founder of SHIELD and known to Fury before he died. Tony is given a package consisting of much of Howard's research items concerning the ARC reactor, before Fury leaves him under the supervision of Agent Phil Coulson. Tony watches an old film of his father inroducing the 1975 Stark Expo, only for their to be a new piece at the end in which Howard explains his love for Tony. Motivated, Stark realizes that the buildings of the Stark Expo are laid out to resemble the atomic structure of a new element. After synthesizing this element, he replaces the palladium core in his chest piece and then travels to the Stark Expo to confront Justin Hammer, after learning that Hammer has been working with the Wrecking Crew. There he fights several of the Hammer Drones (which Leila Davis has remotely taken control of) as well as the Iron Man suit mockup that Rhodes is piloting. This included a moment where Tony saved a young Peter Parker, dressed in an Iron Man costume. Eventually Rhodey regains control of his suit and joins Tony in fighting both Davis and Ivan Vanko, now calling themselves Beetle and Crimson Dynamo respectively. Eventually, Vanko is killed and Davis is captured. Tony rededicates himself to Pepper, apologizing for his past bad behavior. Fury elects to use Stark on a consulting basis only for the moment, which Tony agrees to only after Fury gets Senator Stern to give Stark a medal in service to his country. In the intermediary, Stark became a consultant with SHIELD, consulting on some ongoing projects, in particular giving a once over on the Foster Field Bridge technology. Also, Tony and Pepper scuessfully bought and retrofitted a skycraper in New York City as the Stark Tower. Stark was called back into service of the Avengers initiative in response to the arrival of Loki to Earth via the Tesseract and Taskmaster. After being recruited by Agent Coulson, Stark rendezvoused with his teammates, Steve Rogers, Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff in Stuggartt Germany and apprehended Loki, although that was merely a distraction for a prison break that saw the release of two of the former Wrecking Crew members (Whiplash and Blizzard) as well as the Abomination. Tony and Bruce Banner began a worldwide search for the Tesseract, while simultaneously hacking into SHIELD's mainframe and learning of the so called "Phase II" initiative, which was an attempt to duplicate HYDRA's weaponry from World War II. During an argument over SHIELD's motivations, though, Taskmaster and his goon squad attacked the SHIELD helicarrier and rescued Loki. Tony donned his armor and helped keep the ship in the air by restarting a lift turbine with Captain America's help. However, the Helicarrier attack led to Loki being rescued, Hulk disappearing from the Helicarrier for the moment, and the supposed death of Agent Coulson. After mourning Coulson's death, Stark and company take it upon themselves to travel to New York to stop Loki and his group. Loki has taken the Tesseract to the newly opened Stark Tower, using its powerful ARC reactor to activate the device and open a portal to deep space, allowing the Chitauri army to pour through and invade Earth. Tony availed himself well, coordinating the attack with the rest of the Avengers to take down the various Chitauri weapons of destruction. The World Security Council, fearing exposure from the Chitauri, authorized a nuclear strike over Manhattan to try and close the portal. Stark however turned this to his advantage, taking the missile into the portal and using it to destroy the Chitauri mothership just before the portal was closed. Tony plummeted to Earth, seemingly dead, before being revived by the Hulk. In the conclusion of what became known as the Battle of New York, Tony allowed Bruce Banner to take up residence inside Stark Tower, which became renamed Avengers Tower after the new Avengers Organization that Stark helped bankroll. Shortly after the Battle, however, its effects began to take a psychological toll on Tony. He began building new suits at a record pace, trying to hone his technology. He was also subject to nightmares and attacks of PTSD, occasionally drinking to excess again to try and escape these. One such incident took place, publicly, at an event honoring the First Responders during the Battle of New York where he was present, when the assembled crowd began singing Happy Birthday to him in surprise for his 40th birthday. A more serious incdient took place at a romantic dinner with Pepper, which resulted in wine being spilled onto his shirt and nearly shorting out the ARC reactor in his chest. He and Pepper then had a serious discussion concerning his future as Iron Man and their relationship together. At the same time, Tony received information concerning a biological agent known as Extremis, a compound derived from various component chemicals in the Super Soldier Serum as well as an unknown gas found in Antarctica (which was actually left over Terrigen mist, from when the Inhumans had made their home in that continent). Dr. Maya Hansen, one of the lead scientists concerning Extremis, brought the fact that it had been stolen to Tony's attention, and also pointed him in the direction of Simon Williams. Simon was the head of Williams Innovations, a tech company which Howard Stark had nearly bought out from Simon's father Sanford Williams several years earlier. Tony tried to make peace with Simon, but was rebuked quickly. Eventually Tony discovered that Simon had been using Extremis in human trials, particularly on prisoners, working with a shady cabal known as Advanced Idea Mechanics. These trials had resulted in some of the human subjects, seemingly at random, gaining special abilities. After exposing this to the public and causing Simon Williams' stock to plummet, Tony's Malibu house was attacked by helicopters, supposedly from Williams. Despite losing most of his suits, Tony and Pepper are able to escape and go underground, avoiding detection from the forces that scour the rubble looking for their bodies. Tony and Pepper manage to get to a Stark Laboratory and attempt to contact James Rhodes, now working as the Iron Patriot for the Secret Service, to alert him of what had happened. However, they quickly realized that Rhodes' suit had been compromised by AIM, working with Simon Williams. Stark and Pepper work together to rebuild one of Tony's suits, and Stark overcomes his PTSD issues and goes to confront Williams, who he finds has been subjected to the Extremis process and become a being of ionic energy. Stark fights Williams but eventually convinces him of AIM's duplicity, and discovers that the head of AIM is the long thought dead Arnim Zola, who had transformed his mind into a being called MODOC. Stark fights MODOC and manages to defeat him, saving the President and freeing Rhodes from his suit being compromised. Afterwards, Tony undergoes a medical procedure to remove the shrapnel from his chest, freeing him from the need for an ARC reactor, and then proposes to Pepper, who accepts. Shortly after this time, in the ruins of his old house, Tony is approached by Reed Richards, Nick Fury, Thaddeus Ross, Black Bolt and a man named Doctor Strange concerning Bruce Banner and if Banner could contain the Hulk. After a long debate, a contingency plan is made to deal with the Hulk as a last resort: send him off world to an unihabited planet so he can't hurt anyone else. Tony neglects to mention this to anyone else in his close circle of friends. At the same time, he develops measures to counter the Hulk, working with Bruce Banner to develop Project VERONICA, aka as the Hulkbuster armor. He also developed the Iron Legion, a group of Iron Man suits remotely piloted to try and keep civilian casualties to a minimum during large scale battles. Shortly after the failed HYDRA incursion of Project Insight, the Avengers are reassembled to track down the Red Skull and root out the remaining forces of HYDRA. After attacking several bases in the process, the Avengers come across a base in Sokovia that houses not only the Red Skull, but former SHIELD director Baron Strucker as well. After capturing Strucker, Stark examines an underground bunker in the base and finds advanced robotics technology, as well as some sort of alien staff. He is then shown a vision of the Earth being invaded by the Chitauri once again, due to the effects of Wanda Maximoff's powers. Tony takes the data on the robotics as well as the staff back to Avengers tower and begins reconstructing the project, which he finds out was called Ultron. He and Banner work to successfully integrate the innate programming matrix within the scepter into the Ultron program, merging it with the Iron Legion protocol. Despite several attempts, all simulations failed and Stark gave up on the prospect for the time being. Unbeknownst to him, however, his AI JARVIS was able to successfully complete the attempt, giving birth to the intelligence Ultron. Ultron however quickly turned against his base programming, attacking JARVIS and building a body for himself from components of an Iron Man suit. After a party in which Stark failed to lift Thor's hammer Mjolnir, the Ultron drone confronted the Avengers and stole the scepter, leaving for Sokovia. Stark had an argument with the team concerning his development of artificial intelligence without their consultation, with Stark pointing out that they had no way of stopping alien threats to the human race at the present moment, trying to justify the need for Ultron. With the discussion tabled for the moment, Stark led the team in researching everything they knew about Baron Strucker and the Red Skull, eventually stumbling upon a clue that led them to arms dealer Ulysses Klaue, a man Stark had met in the past, which led them to Ultron's interest in vibranium. The group traveled to Johannesburg to confront Klaue, finding Ultron and the Maximoff twins present inside his base of operations. A fight soon broke out in which Wanda used her powers of mental manipulation to distract and confuse many of the Avengers, eventually causing Bruce Banner to transform into the Hulk in a mindless state. This forced Tony to break off the pursuit of Ultron and the vibranium, calling in his Hulkbuster armor to try and contain the Hulk from destroying Johannesburg. After a lengthy fight, Tony managed to subdue the Hulk, but only barely, and led the team back to the states. Upon talking with SHIELD agent Maria Hill, the Avengers decided to lay low to protect Banner from retribution, and Clint Barton led the team to his safehouse where his wife, Barbara, and his two children lived. As the team recovered from the events in Johannesburg, Tony and Steve renewed their argument from before concerning preventative measures of war. Their argument was again interrupted, this time by a noise in Barton's barn, where they confronted Nick Fury and the real-life Red Skull (the previous one in Sokovia being a Life Model Decoy). At first incredulous at the idea of working with the remnants of HYDRA to take down Ultron, Stark eventually accepted the task as a necessary evil, further driving a wedge between he and Captain America. Eventually the team figured out Ultron's decision to build a new body for himself using the regeneration cradle of Dr. Helen Cho. Cap and several team members flew to Seoul to stop Ultron, while Banner and Stark went back to the tower to find a way to shut Ultron out of the Internet. However, upon the arrival of the android Ultron was building, complete with the energy stone from the Scepter in it, Stark convinced Banner to recreate the Ultron program with JARVIS matrix further integrated into it. Just as they were about to complete the project, Rogers and the Maximoffs, who had turned on Ultron, came in and stopped the procedure. This led to a brief skirmish between Iron Man and Captain America, before Thor jumped in and finished the process to its completion, creating The Vision. Thor explained that the Mind Stone was central to the Vision's creation and the creation of Ultron itself, and that if they could harnass its power it might be the key to stopping Ultron. After finding Ultron back in Sokovia, Stark led the efforts to evacuate civilians and take out Ultron's super-oscillator, preventing it from creating an earthquake large enough to effect the entire world. The Battle of Sokovia was an intense affair, and in the course of it several civilians did lose their lives, including Magda and Carl Zemo, two deaths which would come back to haunt Stark in the coming years. Following the Battle, Tony retired from active engagement with the Avengers, attempting to live a more normal life with Pepper, leaving the team in Steve Rogers hands. He resumed consulting with SHIELD, though was dismayed when Thaddeus Ross replaced Nick Fury as the director of SHIELD. In the end, he was called upon to fulfill the Final Protocol for the Hulk, launching him into space with a vibranium ship towards an uninhabited planet. Several months later, an incident occurred in Alexandra, Egypt that warranted Tony's return to heroism. He actively lobbied and got passage for new Superhuman Accords which placed the Avengers Organization directly under the control and supervision of the World Security Council through SHIELD. Stark got the Fantastic Four to agree to similar protocols, and then tried to sell the Avengers on this, earning the cooperation of Vision, Simon Williams (who had joined the Avengers in the time since he fought Stark), James Rhodes and Natasha Romanoff to sign the new "Avengers Protocols." However, Steve Rogers led his own contingent against it, specifically himself, Sam Wilson, and the Maximoff Twins, though the latter two were more undecided than anything. Before agreement could be reached, Rogers was called away by the death of his longtime friend, Peggy Carter. In Austria, at the signing of the Accords, Tony was not severely hurt when the Winter Soldier (acting on orders from someone presumed to be Helmut Zemo) attacked the meeting, killing King T'Chaka of the nation of Wakanda. Stark then led a task force to try and capture Barnes, while Rogers and Wilson opposed them. It was shortly before this that Tony was made aware of one Peter Parker, and his heroic actions in Queens. After Rogers and Wilson were captured in Budapest along with Barnes, Stark again attempted to explain the situation to Captain America. While it appeared at first Rogers would acquiesce, Tony let slip that at the moment he was keeping the Maximoff's in the Avengers Tower "for their own protection", souring Steve on the whole affair. Tony then attempted to recapture Barnes when he was broken out of his cell by the real Helmut Zemo, who was disguised at the time. After losing both Rogers and Barnes, Stark was read the riot act y SHIELD director Thaddeus Ross. Tony then had Widow recruit T'Challa, the newly revealed Black Panther, to their side as he summoned Rhodes and Williams to Budapest, while also traveling to Queens to retrieve his "secret weapon." Tony met the young Peter Parker in his New York apartment somewhat awkwardly, given the starstruck nature of the teenager. After hearing the explanation of their unintentional meeting at the Stark Expo years earlier, Tony learned of how Peter got his powers, and a brief explanation of what had happened to Peter's Uncle Ben. Tony agreed to mentor young Peter and to take him to Budapest under the guise of a "Stark Internship Program", assigning Happy Hogan to keep an eye on the youngster. Travelling back to Budapest, Tony assembled his team against Cap's, further drafting The Vision after the Maximoff twins escaped the Tower with the aide of Clint Barton. At the Budapest airport, Tony's group fought against Cap's, eventually capturing most of them (including Barton and Scott Lang, the new Ant-Man) but losing Barnes and Rogers again, who flew off to Parts Unknown. Stark sent Rhodes to try and stop the Quinjet from leaving, ordering Vision to shoot down Wilson who flew off in pursuit. However, Vision missed his target and hit Rhodes instead, causing the War Machine to plummet several hundred feet from the air and paralyze Tony's lifelong friend from the waist down. After the battle, Tony confronted the Black Widow on allowing Cap and Bucky to escape. She admits to having a change of heart and tells Tony sometimes doing what is best for the greater good is the wrong thing to do. Tony tries to explain himself further, before Widow admits that she had found out what Tony and others had done to Bruce Banner before these events, leaving Stark speechless before she departed to avoid capture from Ross. T'Challa interrupted his thoughts and told him of Helmut Zemo's involvement in setting Bucky loose and, potentially, also being the man behind Vienna. Stark travels with T'Challa to the Raft, a maximum security prison located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean controlled by SHIELD. After trading words with the arrested Barton and Scott Lang, he confronts Sam Wilson and asks to know where Cap and Bucky have gone. Eventually Wilson relents, once he finds out Stark now believes Cap's story, telling him to head to Siberia to stop five more Winter Soldiers from appearing. Stark and T'Challa travel there, confronting Rogers and Barnes. To their surprise, though, they find the five super soldiers killed by Zemo, who then shows archival footage he attained from HYDRA's files, detailing the murder of Howard and Maria Stark by the Winter Soldier. Incensed at Barnes' actions, and at Rogers for possibly concealing them, Tony lashed out and attempted to kill Barnes himself, leaving T'Challa to go after Zemo. After a long fight, Stark was barely defeated by Barnes and Rogers, with Captain America symbolically leaving his shield behind for Tony to find. In the aftermath, Tony received a letter and a burner phone from Rogers, telling him he can call if he needs him, before learning of a break-in at the Raft, setting Rogers' compatriots free. Upon his return to the United States full time, Tony allowed Peter Parker to keep the enhanced suit that he had given him prior to the Civil War with Cap, and told Happy Hogan to keep an eye on him. In the following months, Stark took on a more active role in leading and training the Avengers, working more closely with SHIELD in the process and getting more annoyed with SHIELD director Thaddeus Ross at the same time. Some time later he led a group to Shanghai to fight the mercenary Brock Rumlow, aka Crossbones, only to have the mercenary escape via some kind of teleportation powers. Simultaneously though, a group of terrorists attacked several other cities, causing SHIELD to be spread thin. On the day of Stark's wedding to Pepper Potts, Rumlow attacks again, but this time is captured. He explains that the attacks were the work of a man calling himself the Mandarin, the head of the Ten Rings terrorist organization which had captured Tony several years earlier. Mandarin sends a video message to the world, demonstrating his nuclear capabilities, and that he wished to meet Tony Stark in person, as well as The Vision. Stark and Vision traveled to the Mandarin's palace, having dinner with the terror mastermind before the whole affair goes south. Stark and Vision learn of the Mandarin's demands for turning over his nukes, he wishes to study the Vision. Despite being ordered to do so by Ross, Stark disobeys and has Rhodes send over a War Machine drone to help take the fight to the Mandarin. After a brief skirmish with the Mandarin, who takes information from the Mind Stone in his forehead and uses it to control a massive dragon named Fin Fang Foom, Stark is left to fight The Mandarin over the skies of Beijing. He eventually manages to do enough damage to the dragon to knock him out of the air, but is barely a match for the Mandarin one on one. With help from Vision, War Machine, and even SHIELD quinjets sent by the surprisingly resurrected Phil Coulson, Stark is able to defeat the Mandarin enough for the freed dragon to capture him and take him to parts unknown. Tony then marries Pepper in a second wedding which goes off without a hitch, only for his honeymoon to be interrupted by Peter Parker and his battles with the Lizard in Queens, as well as being named the new temporary director of SHIELD. At the same time, Tony is told by Reed Richards that the Hulk may be soon returning to Earth, causing Stark to prepare for the eventuality. Tony saves Peter from being arrested, vouching for him to the NYPD and then chewing him out for disobeying orders to take on The Lizard. He disables Peter's suit as punishment, putting him in "timeout." Tony continues to prepare for the eventuality of the Hulk's return, ignoring much of everything else, before an attempt to hack in the power systems of Avengers Tower is thwarted by Peter. As thanks, Tony restores his suit to full functionality and removes him from the Training Wheels Protocol. However, shortly thereafter, Hulk returns with his Warbound Clan from the planet Sakaar, seeking revenge on Tony and the men who banished him in the first place. It is then that Tony has to explain his actions to Pepper and Happy, who are understandably disgusted with what he had done. He also has to contend with the Hulk's Warbound Clan, and their threats to destroy Earth. Using the Fantastic Four to buy himself time, Stark modifies his armor and an orbital satellite, retrofitting them with the Gamma Suppressor weapon that had been developed by Dr. Samuel Sterns. Stark, Nick Fury, Doctor Strange and Hulk's cousin Jennifer Walters (aka She-Hulk) then traveled to Hulk's ship to try and contain the Hulk and stop his incursion. After a long battle, Stark was able to use the gamma suppressor on the satellite to neutralize the Hulk long enough to take Bruce Banner into custody, and Stark oversaw his detention into a self-contained unit deep underground known as Fantasy Island. These actions had estranged Tony from many of his allies as well as the relationship between SHIELD and the US government. However, things took a turn for the worse with the arrival of four time-displaced heroes from the future (Miles Morales, Kamala Khan, William Maximoff and Teddy Altman) as well as the return of Thor and Loki, warning of the impending arrival of the Mad Titan Thanos to claim the Infinity Stones. Tony dispatched SWORD, a 20-year in the making defense perimeter that combined elements of the Ultron Program, existing SHIELD fighters and repurposed Chitauri technology to fend off a full invasion from the Chitauri and the Black Order, enlisting all of Earth's heroes in the process (and granting amnesty to all the Secret Avengers for their work). These actions placed him at odds with President Matthew Ellis, until it was revealed that Thaddeus Ross and newly appointed Secretary of Defense Steve Danvers were actually Skrull infiltrators as part of a larger invasion plot. Stark helped lead the Earth's defenses in victory over the Chitauri (aided by the arrival of Carol Danvers and the Guardians of the Galaxy), but Thanos still managed to acquire the full compliment of Infinity Stones minus the Soul Stone. Tony then mended fences with Bruce Banner, partially thanks to a recording of himself from an alternate timeline, to confront Thanos in Earth orbit. After a lengthy battle, Thanos managed to acquire the last of the Infinity Stones from Adam Warlock and nearly killed all of the Earth's heroes in the process. However Thanos grew arrogant and ascended to godhood, attempting to become one with his true love Death. This allowed the Gauntlet to slip into the hands of Nebula, who used it to undo all that Thanos had done (a feat further accomplished by Adam Warlock) on Earth. Tony then witnessed the arrival of the Living Tribunal, one of the few heroes to witness the event. Upon returning to Earth, Tony resigned as director of SHIELD and entered into retirement with Pepper, who was expecting their first child. Alternate Timeline In the time-altered future of Infinity War, Tony was the only hero to survive the assault on Thanos in Earth's orbit, and was also made immortal by the Soul Stone as a "gift". In the aftermath of the so called "Decimation," Tony attempted to kill himself after all his loved ones died before his eyes, before attempting to reassemble a group of Avengers to go after Thanos. The US government, ennacting martial law under General Ross and Secretary Danvers (who had not been exposed in this timeline), shut down this effort and turned Stark into a fugitive. What Tony did in this interim period is not well documented, and he did not participate in the war against the Skrulls, but he eventually wound up seeking safe haven in Wakanda. In Wakanda, Stark eventually helped them fend off the challenge of Victor von Doom and Assemble a group of New Avengers to fight against the despots who had inherited the Earth in the wake of these crisis. Stark began forming a plan to try and go back in time to save the future, but before final plans could be adopted, the Devourer of Worlds Galactus and his herald Silver Surfer arrived to destroy the Earth. Stark seemingly died as this Earth was consumed around him, though given his immortality, it is possible he survived in this alternate universe. Powers/Abilities * Armored Suits: Tony's primary ability is the myriad of Iron Man suits that he has built to combat Global and Galactic Threats. There are several different models, ranging from the iconic Mark III suit to the ultra-durable Veronica model (AKA, the Hulkbuster) to suits designed for use in aquatic and zero-g situations. The suits are all uploaded with an AI interface, first with Stark's personal AI JARVIS and then with a program known as FRIDAY. All the suits are equipped with propulsion based thrusters to allow for flight and manueverability, as well as large numbers of varying weapons. * Intelligence: Tony is one of the smarter individuals in the MCU, boasting of having an IQ near 200. He is intuitively skilled at mechanical and electrical engineering, particularly at designing and building any form of technology. He is also a skilled computer hacker as well as having more than rudimentary understandings of complex atomic theory. * Basic Combat Skills: He has been trained in close quarters combat by Steve Rogers, one of the best hand-to-hand fighters in the MCU, however his skills in this area pale in comparison to his fellow teammates. * Immortality: An alternate version of Tony Stark had been granted immortality by the Soul Stone, and he could be healed from almost any injury instantaneously. It is unknown if this power was canceled out by the Power Cosmic of the Silver Surfer. Weaknesses Tony's primary weakness comes both from his guilty conscience and his seeming arrogance. He is prone to leap into a situation without thinking things through first, and as a natural tinkerer he sets things into motion without first considering the consequences. He is driven and blinded by his constant need to atone for past sins, and an underlying feeling of lack of self worth. In the past, Tony has dealt with alcoholism and a drive to drink. Work seems to have cured that ailment, though it should not be discounted entirely. Film Details Tony appears in the following films within the Earth-11584 universe. In all cases, he is portrayed by actor Robert Downey Jr. * Iron Man (2008) * Iron Man 2 (2010) * The Avengers (2012) * Iron Man 3 (2013) * Captain America: The Winter Soldier only (2014) * Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) * The Incredible Hulk 2 (2015) * Captain America: Civil War (2016) * Fantastic Four: Doomsday (2016) * Iron Man 4 (2016) * Spectacular Spider-Man (2017) * World War Hulk (2017) * Avengers: Infinity War (2018) * Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) only * Avengers: Infinity (2019) * Avengers: Infinity Gauntlet (2019) Category:Good Characters Category:Earth-11584 Characters Category:SHIELD members Category:Earth-11584